Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c11: Introduction: The Great Mughals
Indian Painting under the Mughals, A.D. 1550 to A.D. 1750 c11
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Contents
Introduction: The Great Mughals
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| Babur | . | . | 1526–1530 | Jahangir | . | . | 1605–1627 |
| Humayun | . | . | 1530–1556¹ | Shah Jahan | . | . | 1627–1658 |
| Akbar | . | . | 1556–1605 | Aurangzeb | . | . | 1658–1707 |
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¹ This includes an interregnum of several years, while Pathan and Sur kings occupied the throne of Delhi.
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THE art of painting in India has become known through its two principal developments—the Buddhist frescoes of the first centuries of the Christian era and the later mediaeval miniatures. Owing to the inaccessibility of the former the student of these unique examples of Indian pictorial art is usually unable to see them *in situ*, and so is dependent for his knowledge on reproductions; but in his researches in the latter art, he is confronted with no such disabilities, as numbers of the original pictures are available for his inspection in many of the larger libraries, and in most collections of Indian art. It is with the miniature painting of India in one of its aspects that this work proposes to deal. As a form of expression the art has resolved itself into two phases, which for convenience may be referred to as schools. These are the Rājput, which is the Hindu form of the art, and the Mughal, which is the Muhammadan; both schools, however, owed their origin to the artistic incentive of a Muhammadan dynasty, that of the Mughals. The Mughal emperors came to India from Central Asia, and were the descendants of the Amir Timur—Tamerlane. They began to establish an empire in Northern India—Hindustan—towards the middle of the sixteenth century, attaining to the height of their power during the seventeenth century. Then their dominions included almost the whole of the Indian peninsula, and the empire of the ‘Great Mogul’ had the reputation of being one of the mightiest in the East. In the first half of the eighteenth century their authority weakened under a succession of effete sovereigns, and, towards the end of that century, the dynasty and the empire which it ruled, as a political factor, had to all intents and purposes ceased to exist. As the art of the miniature painter, in its Mughal aspect, was dependent entirely on the ruling power for its support, the history of the school follows the same course as that of the Mughal dynasty, flourishing when it flourished and declining when it declined. The initial step in its development was taken by the Emperor Humayun, when he retained in his service two artists from Persia, but the actual foundation of the school was laid by the constructive genius of his famous son, Akbar the Great, in the course of his long reign which extended from A.D. 1556 to 1605. Under the aesthetic Jahangir, with his intelligent patronage, it reached its meridian, which was maintained in a slightly less degree during the magnificent reign of Shah Jahan, the builder of the Taj Mahal. The decline of the art began with Aurangzeb, who occupied the throne from A.D. 1658 to 1707, and from whose puritanical zeal the painters received little encouragement. Its death-knell was rung by the feeble emperors who followed; immersed in domestic strife and political dissension, they did not attempt to stem the tide of its decay.
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The earlier Mughal emperors—Humayun and Akbar—introduced the art of miniature painting into Hindustan from Persia. Their action in this particular represents, however, only one comparatively small item in a fairly wide movement. From the nature of this movement it may be termed the ‘ Persianization ’ of Northern India. In the train of these emperors was a great medley of Asiatic tribes—Persians, Mongols, Uzbegs, Turks, Kalmacks, and Afghans—who came under the generic name of Mughals. Selections from these comprised the Mughal court, and they also figured prominently among the officials of the administration. When the Mughals first arrived in Hindustan, they found the country in a state of chaos, out of which they proceeded to bring some kind of order, and, subsequently, to reorganize many of its native institutions. To help them in their work of reconstruction they instinctively turned to Persia for guidance, a neighbouring empire which under the effective rule of the Safavids was beginning to proclaim itself a great power. Although not actually of that country themselves, the traditions of the Mughal dynasty, through its Timurid ancestry, were linked with those of Persia. Further, throughout much of their history, Persia and India were geographically much closer than they are to-day, as their boundaries marched together, where is now the barrier of Afghanistan.
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Evidences of an intermittent association between the two civilizations before the arrival of the Mughals are well known. While it cannot be said that Akbar took as his model the rule of the Safavids—he was too original and independent to be a mere plagiarist—that he leaned heavily on it for some of his projects is clear. In this he was naturally aided by the many Persian officers in his service, the number of whom, instead of diminishing as the dynasty progressed, tended to increase under his successors. Even as late as the last half of the seventeenth century they continued to find employment all over India, for a writer of Aurangzeb's time remarks ‘that in the Empire of the Great Mogul, as well as in the kingdoms of Golconda and Bijapur, the Persians are in possession of the highest posts’.¹ So it came about that Northern India was ruled by a government which used Persian as its court language, and conducted all state correspondence through the same foreign medium. In the official records and in the whole of the departmental routine, Persian was the language usually employed. Naturally this reacted on every activity of the country. But though Persianized to this extent it must not be inferred that the administration was entirely an alien one, imposed on the country without any consideration for its indigenous culture.
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On the contrary the Mughal emperors, notably Akbar, made every possible use of the conditions that already existed, encouraging the traditional systems of their subjects in the most liberal manner. Many of the institutions that the Mughals established in India, while Persian in origin, were modified by Indian contributions to suit their Indian environment. In a variety of the forms of human activity that ensued, a combination of Persian and Indian elements is observable; in literature, art, architecture, industries, in the planning of their gardens, even down to fruit cultivation, the best that the two countries could offer was utilized. Perhaps the effect on the language of the people that this policy produced will most readily illustrate what was taking place. When the Mughals began their rule the indigenous vernacular of Hindustan, especially in the country around Delhi, was Hindi. But, as we have seen, with the establishment of Akbar's government, Persian was recognized as the official and literary language in court circles and among the bureaucracy generally. Gradually the educated Indians accepted this foreign tongue, regarding it as a mark of elegance and fashion, just as French was affected by all those who aspired to any consideration in England after the Norman conquest.
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Persian words and phrases speedily found their way into the speech of the common people, being used as a convenient medium of communication between the extensive entourage of the Mughals and the original inhabitants of the country. Before long there grew up that *lingua franca* of Northern India, known as Urdu, a ‘highly Persianized form of Hindi which nevertheless continued to retain the grammatical structure of an Indian tongue ’.¹ And as with the language, so with many other forms of expression, artistic and literary, identically the same process was taking place.
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¹ Tavernier, vol. ii, p. 177.
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¹ Akbar, p. 11.
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Miniature painting was therefore only one of many arts and industries which at this time were imported into Hindustan, to undergo a transformation in the hands of its skilled craftsmen. The emperors, personally interested in its development, took definite measures for its encouragement, maintaining as part of their retinue a staff of artists, both Persian and Indian, skilled in this form of painting, and employing them in working out their own ideas. So in the course of time came into being the Mughal school of miniature art, which, as it was inspired by the founders of the dynasty, reflected in its subject-matter and in its intention the mind of the ruling power. But this method of expression originally derived from Persia having found its way into the country, although taken up so enthusiastically by the emperors themselves, did not become the close monopoly of the Mughal court. It attracted in addition many of the indigenous artists of India—hereditary painters—trained for generations to the use of the brush, but unacquainted, up to then, with the art of painting in its miniature form; these readily accepted the new style of technique, adapted it to suit their particular ideas, and soon evolved a school of their own. Their method of work resembles the Mughal art in treatment, but in its motives, in sentiment, and in temper generally, it strikes an entirely different note. As it is associated largely with the Rājputs of Rājputāna and parts of the Punjab, this phase of the art has become known as Rājput or Rāja-sthānī. While the Mughal school therefore confined itself to portraying the somewhat materialistic life of the court, with its state functions, processions, hunting expeditions, and all the picturesque although barbaric pageantry of an affluent oriental dynasty, the Rājput painters, living mentally and bodily in another and more abstract environment, and working for Hindu patrons, pictured scenes from the Indian classics, domestic subjects, and illustrations of the life and thought of their motherland and its creed. In defining the main characteristics of each of these phases of miniature painting, it should be emphasized that the distinctions between the two are more real than apparent. Except for a few artists brought from Persia who lived entirely within the circle of the Mughal court, both arts were in the hands of Indian craftsmen, mainly Hindus, and the heirs of the ancient Buddhist painter-priests. The difference really was a personal one, and lay in the artist’s election to take service under the emperor, working according to his patron's ideas and in the recognized official style, or while accepting the advantages of the new and improved method imported by the Mughals, in his continuing to paint according to his own native traditions. Moreover some of the painters of an adaptable nature found themselves able to work at will in both styles, and at times produced pictures which displayed the characteristics of each. The dividing line therefore is an indeterminate one; and large collections of Indian miniatures will often contain a number of paintings which may be referred to either school.
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In the course of any study of Indian art—and the remark also applies to Asiatic art generally—it becomes evident to the occidental that this subject in the East is not viewed from exactly the same standpoint as it is in the West; in other words art, to the oriental, has a connotation peculiarly its own. As one of many illustrations of this it is only necessary to refer to the now well-known fact that in most Asiatic countries calligraphy has always been considered as a higher art than that of painting. In India under the Mughals painters were regarded merely as hereditary craftsmen, men, who, under a long course of training gradually became adept in painting pictures. On the other hand the *khushnavīs*, or beautiful writer, was a heaven-sent genius, one whose art could not be acquired by practice, however long-continued, or by working according to rules; it was a natural gift. There are sayings and anecdotes of the great writers, but none of their brothers the painters. In many instances the two craftsmen combined, so that we see on one side of a Mughal miniature a few lines of poetry written by one of the masters of the calligraphic art, and the reverse occupied by a painting, but in no case has either work any relation to the other. Both arts appeared in India with the introduction of paper into that country. The miniature painting of the Mughals, as will be described in detail hereafter, was a process of water colour—technically called *tempera*—applied to the surface of paper. Paper was one of the commodities which the Muhammadan invaders brought with them to India, and it is hardly realized to what extent its employment affected the graphic arts of the country. Previously, the Indian, ever conservative, had clung to his picturesque but somewhat primitive palm-leaf, on which he wrote with an iron style, and continued to do so until long after the rest of Asia had taken to paper as a necessary article of use. In India, even up to the fifteenth century, paper was practically unknown, except among the Gujarātī traders of the west coast, who were compelled by circumstances to utilize it in their transactions with countries across the seas. The long delay in the acceptance of paper therefore, both for writing and consequently for artistic purposes, is one of the principal reasons why hardly any pre-Mughal painting in India is known. When, however, under the Mughals, this article came into official, and later, into more general use, it soon found favour with all classes, and the immediate development of painting on paper was one of the results.
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Among the Hindus painting was originally known as *Chitravidya*, but with the Mughals, to quote the definition of a contemporary writer, Abu’l Fazl, ‘drawing the likeness of anything is called *taswīr*’, and the word *taswīr* is the one generally used in India to the present day for a picture, including, of course, a miniature painting. In Europe, notably among French connoisseurs whose acquaintance with the subject is far from superficial, pictures from India are referred to as ‘Indo-Persian miniatures’, a term which has at least the merit of being descriptive of the art in its earlier stage. When fully developed, however, this form of painting took on a character of its own, essentially Indian and closely associated with the Mughal dynasty, so that in the circumstances that phase of it which was connected with the ruling court is best designated by the word ‘Mughal’. Exception has been taken in some quarters to the use of the term ‘miniature’ in this connexion. To describe a Persian painting, which is a book illustration, as a miniature, may possibly be open to objection, and the same may be said of the earlier Mughal paintings for an equal reason. But as the Indian art matured, the painters were inclined to discard the illustrative art, and to devote themselves more to the production of separate pictures. When the Mughal art was at its best it took the latter form, and the average size of one of these, including the mount, approximates to a sheet of modern foolscap. The dimensions within which a picture may be termed a miniature are variously given, but it is now generally accepted that any painting that is easily portable, and can be passed from hand to hand to be viewed, is a miniature, and to this very reasonable description the Mughal paintings fully conform. Moreover, according to its ancient derivation from *minium*, the Indian picture can also lay a claim to the title of miniature. For it was the practice of the Indian artist to outline his painting first of all in a red colour—*gairikā*—which, although not obtained from lead, was a mineral pigment—an oxide of iron. On the whole the designation ‘Mughal miniature’ for this form of Indian painting has everything to commend it.
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While the miniatures of the Mughals have become known mainly on account of their artistic qualities, the student will readily recognize that they also form a valuable pictorial commentary on the history of the period in which they were produced. They do not, however, profess to concern themselves with the state of the ordinary inhabitants of the country—for this we must refer to the contemporary Rājput art—but as a record of the habits and customs of the ruling class they are unique. Much of the work of the school had even a narrower object, its intention being to depict almost the daily life of the monarchs themselves. As these emperors were Muhammadans, the question will be asked, how were they able to reconcile their artistic proclivities with the strict tenets of their religion? In other words, how could they not only permit, but command, pictures of themselves and other living beings to be painted when the Prophet had declared in effect that ‘ on the day of resurrection those who had been guilty of making pictures of animate objects would be ordered to breathe life into their handiwork, and those unable to do so would perish in torment ’? ¹ It is now generally accepted that Muhammad laid down this law with the sole object of preventing idolatry among his followers, the pernicious effects of which were only too apparent among those of other religions with whom he was brought into contact.
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And on the whole it was observed by Muhammadans in their art, strictly, where it concerned their religion, but less so in its secular form. In those countries dominated by the *Sunnis* it was more literally obeyed, because these took their name from the *Sunnat*, the ‘ path ’ or ‘ usage ’ of the Prophet, which they faithfully follow, and in which this particular law is recorded. The other Islamic division, the *Shiah*, allows itself more freedom in such matters, as may be seen in the art of Persia, a country chiefly populated by its adherents. By descent the Mughal emperors were *Sunnis*, and as such would ordinarily have conformed strictly to Muhammad’s edicts, in which case there would have been no Mughal school of painting. But one of the most striking characteristics of the dynasty as a whole was the complete independence of thought displayed by most of its members, and in no direction was this more noticeable than in their attitude towards religion. The individual ideas of each may be briefly defined. Humayun was a devout believer in the faith of his fathers, but during his period of exile from the throne, and dependent for his very existence on being in the good graces of his protector, Shah Tahmasp of Persia, he was forced to become a *Shiah*.
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The story of Akbar’s struggle with his religious convictions is a long and involved one, in the course of which he became completely unorthodox, in the end resorting to a peculiar creed devised by himself called the *Dīn Ilāhī* or ‘Divine Faith’. Its doctrines enabled him to follow his own inclinations in most things, among which liberal views on the subject of art were included. Jahangir, nominally a *Sunni*, was too easygoing to allow any of the tenets of this belief which conflicted with his own pleasures or opinions to carry weight. In Shah Jahan we see a gradual reversion to the original principles of the orthodox faith, modified, however, by a craving for worldly pleasures, as shown by his magnificence and display. The lives of all these rulers, as manifested by their attitude towards every form of art, seem to prove that laws cannot restrain expression, and that temperament is more powerful than belief. No ordinance, however strongly worded or inspired, could prevent them from giving free play to their aesthetic impulses, as the painting and architecture of their time most eloquently testify. But that a literal interpretation of the Prophet’s precept could, and did, affect this artistic movement is observable in the reign of the last of the real ‘Great Moguls’, Aurangzeb. To his puritanical and ultra-orthodox disposition some decline in the arts may be traced, although it was by no means the only reason for their decay.
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When Aurangzeb came to the throne, premonitions of the crumbling of the Mughal empire, and with it all its institutions, were not wanting, and it is this circumstance, more than the strict application of the *Sunnat* by the royal zealot, which brought about the deterioration of the school. And, while discussing the influence of religion on the art of the Mughals, the fact should not be lost sight of, that in its pictorial aspect it was severely secular in character, rarely, if ever, straying into other fields, so that its patrons were guided by the spirit rather than the letter of Muhammad’s ‘prohibition’.
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¹ Mishkat, Book 16 (Kitab ul-libas), Chapter V (Bab ut-Taswir), Section 1.
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The interest of European artists in Indian painting may be said to have begun with Albrecht Dürer. According to an entry in this master’s diary he was presented through some Portuguese East Indian traders with ‘a child’s head (painted) on linen, and a wooden weapon from Calicut’.¹ These articles must have had some merit in their owner’s eyes, otherwise they would have passed unrecorded in a day-book confined only to events of note. Western painters were, in Dürer’s time, becoming acquainted with the arts of India, and at one period were fond of introducing into the backgrounds of their pictures objects from that country, such as draperies and carpets; but the first great master to become actually acquainted with the miniatures of the Mughals was Rembrandt. The Dutch artist’s appreciation of the Eastern painter’s genius was of a very practical order. Having acquired a number of Indian miniatures of the early seventeenth century, he proceeded to make careful copies of them in sepia line and wash, on Japanese paper, in his own inimitable style. These drawings, made about the year 1656, of portraits of Jahangir and other Mughal personages, now preserved in the British Museum, are an interesting commentary by the great painter on the art of his brother craftsmen in the East.¹ About the same time examples of Indian miniatures were beginning to arrive in England. Through Edward Pococke, an eminent oriental scholar of the seventeenth century, who lived for some years in Aleppo, Archbishop Laud obtained those which he subsequently deposited in the Bodleian Library. At a later date a Mr. Richard Johnson, who was Warren Hastings’s banker, and resided for some time in Lucknow and Hyderabad, acquired the sixty-seven muraqqa‘s now in the Library of the India Office. The Elliott collection in the Bodleian Library was obtained by an Indian official of that name, an ardent oriental bibliophile, whose service was spent mainly at Patna in Bihar. Others, such as Hay and Ouseley, acquired miniatures and manuscripts from India and the East, which have found homes in England. On the Continent similar collections, both public and private, have been obtained in a like manner. Of those in England, as early as the year 1777 the series at the British Museum was attracting the attention of artists, for in July of that year Sir Joshua Reynolds records his admiration of some of the pictures there, specially signifying six in the famous muraqqa‘ No. 18801. Since then, with occasional interludes of neglect, Indian miniatures have received their meed of estimation from artists, connoisseurs, and students of oriental learning, while at the present time the prospect of their attaining a fairly high place in the sphere of pictorial art seems assured.
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¹ *Literary Remains of Albrecht Dürer*, by W. M. Conway.
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¹ Catalogue of Drawings by Dutch and Flemish Artists, Dept. of Prints and Drawings, British Museum, vol. i (1915), pp. 32-3, Nos. H. 74 to 79. See also an article by Sarre in the Jahrbuch der Preuss. Kunstsammlungen, xxv, p. 143. The writer, however, refers to a portrait of Jahangir as that of Akbar, a mistake which the B.M. Catalogue repeats.
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In any attempt to epitomize the characteristics of the graphic art of Asia, it might be said that the most striking feature of the painting of China and Japan is its line, of Persia its line and colour, while the Indian miniature, although displaying a knowledge of both line and form, owes its principal charm to its colour. The Indian craftsman of the Mughal period specially craved for colour, as may be seen in his textiles, in his enamels, in his architecture brilliant with inlay and glaze, and in his painting the rich colour-scheme of which first attracts the eye. It is possible that the nature of his environment may have had something to do with this. Hindustan comprises an extensive tract of alluvial country, which from the absence of rain during the greater part of the year mainly assumes a monotonous yellow hue. And, as a compensation for these monochrome surroundings, the Indian people fly to colour, as shown in the wonderful tints of their costume, particularly that of the womenkind. This appetite for colour, which is met by the lowly with gay garments, is just as pronounced in the upper classes and those whose circumstances enable them to make more display, as is proved by the variegated hues of their household effects, wall-hangings, horse equipage, and furnishings generally. It is only to be expected, therefore, that the Mughal court would show what could be done in luxurious colour-effects by amazing combinations of embroideries and cloths of gold, of painting and gilding, of marble and precious stones, pictures of which the state artists were never tired of reproducing. In his efforts to transfer to paper the kaleidoscopic scenes thus presented the artist was compelled to employ a lavish palette, and it is not unlikely that this was one of the means of stimulating his colour-sense to such fine achievements. Colour, therefore, being the dominant note of the Mughal miniatures, it will be realized that the reproduction of these by monotone prints, as are the majority of illustrations in this work, however well prepared, gives a very inadequate idea of their characteristic feature. Moreover, any method of black and white is apt to emphasize unfairly many of those qualities which, when associated with a well-conceived colour-scheme, fall quite naturally into their proper place in the composition. These remarks apply with greater force to pictures like the Mughal miniatures, as they represent an art not generally known, original examples of which many may not have seen. Nevertheless if these illustrations are regarded more as shorthand notes of the subject rather than an attempt at facsimiles of the pictures themselves, the object for which they have been introduced will have been attained. To the colour prints, which have been as skilfully prepared as a mechanical process will permit, and which present in each case a very acceptable duplicate of the original, the student may turn with more confidence. From these he may be able to divine something of the marvellous harmonies and contrasts of their colour-schemes—'to feed on colour' as the artist intended him to do. But even these do not reveal the true spirit of the art, its delicacy and choice of tones, the sense of air and space, the discreet use of gold, the shot greens and silver-threaded greys, that the painter so successfully realized. To see and appreciate these unreproduceable qualities the reader must go to the originals—must study collections of the pictures themselves in those public libraries and art galleries which possess examples of the art.
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Fortunately, as the list of public and private collections at the end of this volume shows, there is ample material for such study, and the wide distribution of the examples, regrettable in one way, has also its compensations. From a variety of causes, some of which will be referred to, a very large number of the finest Indian miniatures has, in the course of time, entirely disappeared. Sufficient have survived, however, to enable us to judge of the art at its best. But it must be admitted that the mass of the material which is now known to us is of a decidedly inferior order, for even the larger collections of Indian pictures as a rule only contain a very few specimens of outstanding merit. Miniatures of a good quality are usually productions of an early date, and are rare because, owing to the passage of a longer period of time since they were executed, they have been liable to more vicissitudes, and accordingly most of their kind have perished. Later, when the art had degenerated and passed into the hands of an increasing number of less skilful craftsmen, the bazaars of Northern India were flooded with quantities of ‘commercial’ paintings, which became very common, and, it should be noted, form the bulk of our present-day collections. Out of these it is necessary to select the few fine examples which enable us to form a correct conception of the subject.
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The history of some of these pictures, especially of the older and better ones, since the gradual breaking up of the imperial collection of the Mughals has often been a sequence of adventures. Some still exhibit distinct traces of the careless treatment to which they have been subjected, of being rolled up in a sepoy’s bedding together with other ‘loot’, of exposure and rough travel, of monsoon rains, of the relentless attacks of tropical insects, of many years of neglect, before they have again found their way into safe keeping. The marvel is that any of these delicate paintings have survived after the period of indescribable lawlessness and disorder that ensued in Northern India in the eighteenth century. When the Persian monarch, Nadir Shah, sacked Delhi in the year 1739, the first real inroad was made on the imperial library of Mughal manuscripts and miniatures, for the conqueror carried away to Teheran with the rest of his vast treasure a selection of the most valuable of these works of art. Some, bearing the seals of Jahangir and Shah Jahan, as well as evidences of a temporary sojourn in Persia, and later in Constantinople, have found homes in Paris, Berlin, Petrograd, and Vienna. During the war of the Rohillas, more than thirty years after the Persian’s devastations, much damage to the collections of art at the Mughal capital took place;
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and later, the Marathas, while in Delhi, obtained by some means groups of pictures which they sent to the Deccan to be appropriated by the Rajas of Satara and the Peshwas of Poona. But the final dispersal of the contents of the library and picture gallery brought together with such care by the Mughal emperors took place during the mutiny of 1857, when irresponsible people of all kinds, obtaining access to the royal palace, helped themselves to anything that had an appearance of value. Many folios of pictures perished as a result of the interval of anarchy that ensued; but on the other hand not a few were rescued by the intercession of more cultivated minds. Several ardent bibliophiles and picture-lovers obtained for nominal sums priceless illustrated manuscripts—the offer of a rupee to every sepoy who produced one of these is said to have formed the nucleus of at least one well-known modern collection—but the imperial library of the Mughals, and all the works of art that it contained, ceased to exist from this date. Fragments of it are now scattered all over the world, but even if these by some miraculous means could again be brought together, they would only form a fraction of the magnificent collection of pictorial art that was for over two centuries the pride of the Mughals.
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Now, however, that these artistic remains of such a remarkable dynasty have been entrusted to our keeping, it behoves us to make every effort to exhibit them so that they are accessible to the intelligent public, and at the same time protected from abrasion or decay. To ensure that both these conditions are observed is not an easy matter. Their delicate nature makes it almost essential that each miniature should be kept under glass. Where we have to deal with a separate specimen no difficulties arise in putting this into effect, as it may be placed between two sheets of glass and sealed up with adhesive tape. Different climates may demand modifications or alterations of such a simple method, but it has been found generally satisfactory. To carry out this plan, however, in the case of an illustrated book or a *muraqqa‘* raises many debatable issues, as it necessitates taking the pictures out of the volume and mounting them separately. As a rule the miniatures in a *muraqqa‘* have no connexion with one another—a *muraqqa‘* is literally a scrap-book—so that there should be no hesitation in opening these out and glazing each picture by itself. If retained as a book, and allowed in the hands of the public, the constant turning over of the folios rubs and wears the surface no matter how well protected, and the painting suffers accordingly. With book illustrations the same trouble arises, although oriental readers endeavour to obviate this, as they have acquired the habit of turning over the leaves of a manuscript in one particular way, which reduces wear and tear to a minimum. Opening the book at the oriental beginning (the occidental *end*) the student takes each folio by the left-hand bottom corner, passing from page to page in this manner—so confining all wear to one place. Such a method, however, does not prevent damage to the illustrations, the surface of which after much use becomes abraded while the paper often splits in the most alarming fashion. The question to be decided is whether the manuscript is to be regarded as Literature or Art, for it cannot continue to be preserved as both. If it is classified as the latter, the illustrations should be carefully extracted, each one glazed as described, and then kept in a separate case as a supplementary volume to the literary part of the work.
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the Roman world, and the most important events of the reign of Antoninus Pius, are related by his biographer, and the reader will not be sorry to find them here in a more concise form. The reign of Antoninus Pius is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history; which is only another mode of saying that its happiness was complete. During the twenty-three years of his administration, the Roman empire was governed by the same invariable maxims of justice and peace. The natives of a vast extent of country were protected by the same laws, and enjoyed the same privileges. The frontiers were defended by the same legions, and the same spirit of moderation and equity prevailed in the councils of the emperor. The death of Antoninus was lamented as a public calamity; and the memory of his virtues was preserved by the gratitude of his subjects, and the imitation of his successor.
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The reign of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, which followed, was a period of great activity and of great events. The empire was attacked on all sides by the barbarians, and the emperor was obliged to spend the greater part of his life in the camp. He was a man of a mild and philosophical temper, and he would have preferred the quiet of the study to the tumult of the field. But he was a prince of a high sense of duty, and he did not shrink from the task which was imposed upon him. He defended the frontiers with vigour, and he defeated the enemies of Rome in many a hard-fought battle. His death was a loss to the empire, and it was felt by all classes of his subjects. He was the last of the good emperors, and with him the golden age of the Roman empire may be said to have terminated.
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The character of the Roman government, under the Antonines, was that of a mild and paternal despotism. The emperor was the source of all power, and his will was the law of the land. But he was restrained by the influence of the senate, and by the force of public opinion. The senate was still a body of great dignity and importance, and its members were the principal officers of the state. The emperor was careful to consult them on all matters of importance, and he was always ready to listen to their advice. The public opinion was also a powerful check upon the actions of the emperor. The people of Rome were still a proud and independent race, and they were not afraid to express their dissatisfaction with the measures of the government. The emperor was aware of this, and he was always careful to avoid any act that would be likely to give offence to the people.
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The administration of justice was one of the most important duties of the emperor. He was the supreme judge of the empire, and he was always ready to hear the complaints of his subjects. He was assisted by a council of jurists, who were the most learned men of the age. The laws were administered with impartiality, and the rights of the citizens were protected. The taxes were moderate, and they were collected with fairness. The public works were carried on with vigour, and the cities of the empire were adorned with magnificent buildings. The trade and commerce of the empire were encouraged, and the people were prosperous and happy. The Roman empire, under the Antonines, was a model of good government, and it was the envy of the world.